Despite its 2:32 length, Jack and I enjoyed this high energy drama about the first Ford car to compete against Ferrari in the 1966 24 hours of Le Mans race. The look of the movie, i.e. production value, is fantastic, with picture cars and set dressing of the period picked up by creative cinematography.
I can't help but list some of the huge and noteworthy cast: Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby, Christian Bale as driver Ken Miles, Tracy Letts as Henry Ford II also known as Deuce, John Bernthal as Lee Iacocca, Caitriona Balfe as Ken's wife Mollie, Noah Jupe as their son Peter, Josh Lucas as oily Ford PR man Leo Beebe, and Ray McKinnon as Shelby's right-hand man Phil Remington.
Bale, who had gained considerable weight to play Dick Cheney in Vice, had to lose 70 pounds in seven months to portray the lean Miles. Damon, who's a little stocky in this role, apparently admires Bale's "monk-like discipline."
The movie had been in development for almost ten years and finally came to fruition with James Mangold directing from the final script by brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth with Jason Keller.
The afore-mentioned cinematography is thanks to Phedon Papamichael.
Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders composed the original soundtrack, streaming on Apple Music and others. It's supplemented by terrific songs of the 60s, many in instrumental version. There's one playlist of songs on Spotify. But, although I'm an Apple Music subscriber, I can't play all of the songs on their playlist without paying extra. Wow.
Damon was last blogged for Downsizing, Bale for Vice, Letts for Lady Bird, Bernthal for The Accountant, Jupe for A Quiet Place, McKinnon for Mud, Mangold for Logan, the Butterworths for Get On Up, Papamichael for Nebraska (Oscar-nominated), and Beltrami for Free Solo. Sanders was Oscar-nominated with Beltrami for scoring The Hurt Locker.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 92 and its audiences a speedy 98. Words to the wise--the movie is loud and the accents (Bale's English and Damon's Texan) make it hard to understand all the words, and, unfortunately, the theatre's closed caption device (my favorite local system is currently the CaptiView) was not working that day so I missed some dialogue. Try to get a device if you have any impairment.
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